I have tried just about everything on this wall. It had pained woodchip over fifty years old. I got that off. Under it was a lining paper ( or even two layers of lining paper - and in some places what looks like cardboard lining paper. I have done all the usual but it seems that the glue or paste used is extraordinarily difficult. It just keeps sticking to the wall and I cannot shift this lining paper. Can someone suggest a way to do this? Something stronger than detergent or zissiner diff that will go through the paper and dissolve the paste? I have been at this five days now and have managed half of one ten foot wall so far. Thanks.
Get it completely damp/wet for an hour, without letting it dry out, before even attempting to remove it.
DO NOT try and scrape off until you have let the water fully penetrate. Time and water is your ally.
If it's not painted then water laced with washing up detergent will get it off. The trick is to use a garden sprayer, damp down the whole wall, wait 10 minutes and damp it down again, and repeat for the next 30 to 60 minutes. The wall may have been PVA'd before the wall was pasted and this may/will have combined with the wall paper paste and the PVA needs to remain damp for a fairly lengthy period.
You may/will need to use towels at the floor level to mop up runoff from the wall.
The trick with painted wood chip is similar. Use a scraper to knock off some of the surface wood chips which reveals tiny bits of unpainted paper beneath. The keep soaking it for at least 30 minutes. Most of the water will run off the painted surface but a lot will get to the exposed paper and under the paint. Use the scraper to remove tiny bits of the wetted paper and repeat the process. The second cycle should get most of the paper off. Don't try to remove the stubborn or un-wetted bits until after a second cycle of wetting/scraping.
I've also found it handy to file/grind the edge of the scraper to a sharp knife edge or use one of the scrapers with the changeable sharp blades.
Last year i used this method on two rooms with multi-layer paint on wood chip with thick lining paper underneath.
Try a wallpaper steamer. Also lots of sources of steam in the room, boiling kettles. Make extra cuts in the paper, so the moisture can more easily penetrate in. Soak it, leave doors and windows closed, then come back to it after several hours.
I've had good luck using a 'tiger' paper scorer (so that the water can penetrate the paper), applying hot soapy water, letting it soak in (often needs more than one soaking), then scraping off with a sharp blade. It's tedious work, but it does eventually come off. Taping a tarp along the wall, and placing old towels along the edge, can help make cleanup easier.
If that still isn't enough, mix thin wallpaper paste, and with that paste that very thin dropsheet plastic to the wet wall with lots of paste. The plastic will seal the moisture in, letting it penetrate for longer (many hours).
While I agree with you, the more likelihood is dot and dab to hide any wall defects. If the person to do this is a cheapskate then this its even more likely to be only a light skim just over taped joints.
A wall with woodchip is unlikely to have been plaster boarded. Thick lining paper with woodchip was the standard way 30 years ago for hiding defects on walls. These days its likely to blown vinyl wallpaper used to hide similar defects.
The "Defect" in the wall was where they ripped out electric wiring and the dado rails and re plastered. I can see it now the woodchip is off but the under lining is a right so and so , it wont come off. Wet it and it just reglues itself as it dries.
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